Factors Influencing Small Business Start-Ups

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IJEBR 5,2 Factors influencing small business start-ups A comparison with previous research Tim Mazzarol, Thierry Volery, Noelle Doss and Vicki Thein Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Keywords Demographics, Entrepreneurs, Small businesses Abstract Sheds light on the process leading to new enterprise formation and identifies the impact of some selected demographic variables on business start-ups. In contrast to traditional research methodologies, this study used a new and more comprehensive approach to survey entrepreneurial intention. It studied both those who actually set up a new business and those “nascent entrepreneurs” who abandoned their idea prior to trading. The findings of an empirical analysis of 93 such entrepreneurs are presented. Using multivariate techniques to analyse the data, the importance of three demographic variables – gender, previous government employment and recent redundancy – was identified as having potential negative influences on small business formation, and comparisons are made with past studies. 48 International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 5 No. 2, 1999, pp. 48-63. © MCB University Press, 1355-2554 Introduction The driving force in the modern economy for the past ten years, and the foreseeable future, is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are meeting our economic needs through the creation of thousands of new businesses each year. While larger corporations have instituted extensive “downsizing” or “rightsizing” programs, job creation and economic growth have become the domain of the new ventures and the entrepreneurs who create them. A great deal is known about the characteristics of entrepreneurs and the motives that have urged them to set up a business venture. Previous research has examined the importance of various demographic variables such as personality,
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